Method and systems for providing audio and video telephone communications using a personal computer and a television

ABSTRACT

A personal computer is used to provide audio and/or video telephone communications. Audio telephone communications are provided by using a personal computer to relay audio telephone communications between external telephone networks and a unified television/personal computer wireless remote control. A personal computer may also be used to relay audio and/or video telephone communications between external telephone networks and a television. For video telephone communications, a television interface unit is provided which includes a wireless communications transceiver, a camera and a microphone. An infrared converter may also be included to convert received television commands into infrared television commands.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The instant application is a Continuation Application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 08/759,313 filed Dec. 2, 1996 now U.S. Pat. No.6,151,490, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by referencein its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to television systems and methods, and moreparticularly to remote control systems and methods for television.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The television (TV) has become ubiquitous in modern society. As aresult, many additional services are being provided via television. Oneexample of an additional service which is being provided via televisionis an online television program guide, wherein television programschedule information is displayed on a television for searching andselection by a television viewer. Online television program guides aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,578 to Reiter et al. entitled “Systemfor Electronically Controllably Viewing on a Television UpdateableTelevision Programming Information” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,357 toHallenbeck entitled “Method and Apparatus for Controlling a TelevisionProgram Recording Device”, the disclosures of both of which are herebyincorporated herein by reference. Other services which are beingprovided or have been proposed in connection with television includeinteractive video, video games, online stock quotation and/or banking,and video-on-demand.

The telephone has also become ubiquitous in modern society. Audiotelephone communications are almost universal and video telephones arenow becoming widespread. With the widespread availability of thepersonal computer, it is also known to provide audio and video telephonecommunications on a personal computer which is connected to a telephonenetwork, which may be the internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides audio and/or video telephonecommunications using a personal computer as a relay. The presentinvention provides audio telephone communications by using a personalcomputer to process and relay audio telephone communications betweenexternal telephone networks and a unified television/personal computerwireless remote control. A personal computer may also be used to processand wirelessly relay audio and/or video telephone communications betweenexternal telephone networks and a television.

The invention stems from the realization that a large amount of computerpower and memory is typically already present in the home, in the formof a personal computer. Accordingly, a personal computer is used todownload and process audio and/or video telephone communications. Theinvention also stems from the realization that the television, ratherthan a personal computer, is often the focal point for individual andfamily gatherings. Accordingly, the television is used for audio and/orvideo telephone communications.

In particular, according to the present invention, a personal computerincludes a housing containing therein a processor and memory. A computerdisplay is responsive to the processor. A telephone interface is alsocontained in the housing, which obtains telephone communications from anexternal telephone network and which sends telephone communications tothe external network. A wireless communications transceiver is alsoincluded in the housing.

The wireless communications transceiver is responsive to the processorand to the telephone interface. The wireless communications transceiverwirelessly transmits telephone communications which are obtained fromthe external network to external of the housing, and wirelessly receivestelephone communications from external of the housing and provides thereceived telephone communications to the telephone interface. Thewireless communications transceiver may also include a remote controlreceiver which is responsive to wireless television remote controlsignals, to control the processor and manipulate information in thememory. Accordingly, the personal computer is used to relay telephonecommunications. The telephone communications may be audio telephone orvideo telephone communications and may use an external wire telephonenetwork or the internet.

In a first embodiment of the present invention, the personal computer isused in combination with a unified television/personalcomputer/telephone wireless remote control. The unified remote controltransmits infrared television remote control commands to a television inresponse to user inputs. The unified remote control also transmitspersonal computer commands to the wireless communications transceiver inresponse to user inputs. The unified remote control also communicatestelephone communications with the wireless communications transceiver.Accordingly, the unified remote control includes therein an audiotelephone handset comprising a microphone and a speaker. Personalcomputer commands and audio telephone communications are preferablycommunicated between the personal computer and the unified remotecontrol using radio frequency communications.

In a second embodiment according to the present invention, a personalcomputer is used to relay video telephone communications between atelephone network and a television. An integratedtelevision/telephone/personal computer wireless remote control transmitspersonal computer commands, television remote control commands andtelephone control commands to the personal computer, preferably usingradio frequencies. A television interface unit is also provided. Thetelevision interface unit includes a wireless communications receiverwhich receives telephone communications from the personal computer andwhich also receives television remote control commands from the personalcomputer. A converter is responsive to the wireless communicationsreceiver to convert the received television remote control commands intoinfrared television remote control commands.

The television interface unit also includes a video camera and amicrophone which are used to produce a video telephone signal. Awireless communications transmitter in the television interface unit isresponsive to the video camera and to the microphone to transmit videotelephone communications to the personal computer. Thus, when a user orgroup of users is gathered around a television, the television interfaceunit allows the unified remote control to be used to control thepersonal computer and the television interface unit to provide audioand/or video telephone communications.

It will be understood that the unified remote control and the personalcomputer interface preferably use radio frequency (such as UHF)transceivers so that signals and commands may be transmitted from roomto room without requiring direct line of sight. Typically, the personalcomputer may not be in a line of sight with the television. If commandsare transmitted in a line of sight from the integrated remote control tothe television, these commands may be transmitted using infraredsignals.

The second embodiment of the present invention can provide a videotelephone system using a personal computer and a television. The videotelephone system includes a personal computer interface which is adaptedfor use with a personal computer. The personal computer interfaceincludes a video telephone network interface and a radio frequencytransceiver which transmits video telephone communications and receivesvideo telephone communications. The system also includes a televisioninterface which is adapted for use with a television. The televisioninterface includes a radio frequency transceiver which receives videotelephone communications from the personal computer interface, and whichapplies the received video telephone communications to a television fordisplay. The television interface also includes a video camera and amicrophone to provide video telephone communications to the televisioninterface transceiver, for transmission to the personal computerinterface.

A wireless remote control includes a user interface which accepts usersinput commands to remotely control a television. The wireless remotecontrol also includes a radio frequency transmitter which transmitsradio frequency remote control signals to the personal computerinterface, to thereby remotely control the personal computer in responseto user input commands at the user interface. The personal computerinterface also relays received television remote control signals to thepersonal computer, and receives television remote control signals fromthe personal computer. The personal computer interface also receivespersonal computer commands from the radio frequency transceiver andrelays the personal computer commands to a personal computer.

In a preferred embodiment, the personal computer interface is containedon a card which connects to a personal computer motherboard in apersonal computer housing. Also in a preferred embodiment, thetelevision interface unit includes a radio frequency switch whichswitches the video input to a television between the received televisionvideo signals and an external video source. Also preferably, thewireless remote control user interface accepts user input commands toremotely control the personal computer. The UHF transmitter alsotransmits UHF personal computer control signals to a personal computer,to remotely control a personal computer in response to user inputcommands at the user interface. An online television program guide orother television accessory service may be implemented by software whichexecutes on the personal computer.

A wireless remote control may be provided according to the presentinvention. The wireless remote control includes a housing and a userinterface in the housing which accepts user input commands. An audiotelephone handset is also included in the housing. The audio telephonehandset includes a microphone and a speaker. A radio frequencytransceiver is also included in the housing. The radio frequencytransceiver transmits radio frequency remote control signals in responseto user input commands at the user interface. The radio frequencytransceiver also transmits and receives audio telephone communicationsto and from the audio telephone handset. An infrared transmitter is alsoincluded in the housing, which transmits infrared remote control signalsin response to user input commands at the user interface.

The user interface preferably includes a plurality of keys. The radiofrequency transceiver is responsive to activation of at least one of thekeys and the infrared transmitter is responsive to activation of atleast one of the keys. The radio frequency transceiver and the infraredtransmitter may both be responsive to activation of at least one of thekeys. The user interface may also include a trackball and the radiofrequency transceiver is responsive to activation of the trackball. Theuser interface may include a television program guide activation key sothat the radio frequency transceiver is responsive to activation of thetelevision program guide activation key, to transmit a command to apersonal computer to activate a television program guide in the personalcomputer. The infrared transmitter is responsive to activation of thetelevision program guide activation key, to transmit a command to atelevision to tune into a television channel which will receive thetelevision program guide from the personal computer.

Methods of providing telephone communications using a personal computeraccording to the invention, obtain at the personal computer, telephonecommunications from an external telephone network. Remote controlsignals are wirelessly received at the personal computer in response touser inputs at a wireless remote control. The telephone communicationsare wirelessly transmitted from the personal computer to a television orto the wireless remote control. Audio telephone communications or videotelephone communications may be obtained from the external telephonenetwork. The external telephone network may be a wire telephone networkor the internet. Preferably, video telephone communications arewirelessly transmitted to the television and audio telephonecommunications are wirelessly transmitted to the wireless remotecontrol. Video telephone communications are wirelessly received at thepersonal computer from a remote unit which contains a camera andmicrophone.

Accordingly, the power, memory and communications connectivity of apersonal computer, and the ubiquitous presence of a television with awireless remote control, are used for audio and video telephonecommunications. A user or group of users who are gathered around atelevision may thereby participate in audio or video telephoneconferences without requiring expensive add-on units and/or expensivetelevisions which contain high power computer processing and memory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of systems and methods forproviding audio telephone communications using a personal computeraccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a second embodiment of systems and methods forproviding audio and/or video telephone communications using a personalcomputer and a television according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodimentsof the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a system for providingaudio telephone communications using a personal computer and atelevision is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 1, system 10 includes apersonal computer 12, a television 40 and a wireless remote control 50.Personal computer 12 includes a personal computer housing 14 and amotherboard 20. The motherboard may include a microprocessor 20 athereon. A keyboard 28, display 30 and other conventional personalcomputer hardware and software may be included. Memory 32, in the formof semiconductor memory (DRAM, SRAM, EEPROM, etc.), magnetic memory(floppy and hard disk drives), optical memory (CDROM) and otherconventional memory may be provided.

Personal computer 12 also includes an external interface card 16 whichmay plug into motherboard 20 and which obtains external information fromexternal networks such as cable TV network 18 a, internet 18 b,satellite TV network 18 c, and telephone networks 18 d. Other networkconnections may also be provided, for point-to-point (private)communications, or point-to-multipoint teleconferencing. Personalcomputer 12 also includes a PC interface card 22 which may also pluginto motherboard 20. PC interface card 22 includes a radio frequency(preferably UHF) transceiver 24. As will be described below, UHFtransceiver 24 functions as a telephone communications transceiver andas a remote control receiver. External interface card 16 and PCinterface card 22 may be combined into a single card.

UHF transceiver 24 transmits information as UHF signals 70 to TV 40. TheUHF signals may be a conventional television program which is obtainedfrom cable interface 18 a or satellite interface 18 c, or may beinternet data from internet interface 18 b. This information may bepassed directly to UHF transmitter 24 from external interface card 16.Alternatively, some or all of this information may be stored in memory32 and then transmitted to TV 40 under remote control or under controlof the personal computer. The UHF carrier may be modulated by the videosignal, and audio may be superimposed on a subcarrier. Similarly, thecontrol codes may also be superimposed on a subcarrier. The design ofthe individual component parts of personal computer 12 are well known tothose having skill in the art and need not be described in greaterdetail herein.

Still referring to FIG. 1, wireless remote control 50 includes a remotecontrol housing 52 and a user interface in the housing which acceptsuser input commands. As shown in FIG. 1, the user interface includes aplurality of keys 58 and 62, a trackball 64 and trackball keys 66 a and66 b, as will be described in detail below. However, it will beunderstood by those having skill in the art that other user inputs maybe provided via touch screen, voice activation and the like.

Wireless remote control 50 includes an audio telephone handset,including speaker 80 and microphone 82. The speaker may be an earspeaker and/or a speakerphone speaker. Wireless remote control 50 alsoincludes a radio frequency (preferably UHF) transceiver 54 whichtransmits UHF remote control signals 74 to personal computer 12 inresponse to user input commands at the user interface. An infraredtransmitter 56 in the housing 52, transmits infrared remote controlsignals 72 to the television in response to user input commands at theuser interface. Infrared remote control signals may also be transmittedto a videocassette recorder or other device. In another embodiment, aUHF transmitter 54 is not included, and infrared commands 74 aretransmitted to the personal computer. In this embodiment, a separateinfrared remote control receiver may be provided in the personalcomputer housing 14.

Audio telephone communications are provided by the system of FIG. 1using personal computer 12 to process and relay audio telephonecommunications between external telephone networks and the unifiedtelevision and personal computer remote control 50. In particular, audiotelephone communications may be provided by wire telephone network 18 d,via the internet 18 b, via cable connection 18 a or satellite connection18 c. UHF transceiver 24 wirelessly transmits the audio telephonecommunications from personal computer 12 to remote control 50, as UHFsignal 76. Remote control 50 receives the telephone communications viaUHF transceiver 54 and provides a received telephone communication tospeaker 80. Similarly, telephone communications are obtained frommicrophone 82 and transmitted by UHF transceiver 54 in unified remotecontrol 50, to the UHF transceiver 24 in personal computer 12, as UHFsignal 74. The audio telephone communications are then provided back tothe external telephone network connection via external interface card16. Accordingly, remote control 50 acts as an audio telephone handset inaddition to acting as a remote control, and personal computer 12 relaysthe audio telephone communications. Personal computer 12 may alsoprocess the audio telephone communications, for example, to performnoise filtering.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, remote control 50 is capable of operatingcertain keys in the infrared mode and other keys in the UHF mode. Somekeys may operate in both modes. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, topkeys 58 operate both the UHF transmitter 54 and the infrared transmitter56. Middle keys 62 operate the infrared transmitter only, and thetrackball 64 and trackball keys 66 a, 66 b operate the UHF transmitter54 only. It will be understood that the positioning of the keys canvary, so that top keys 58 will also be referred to as “combined keys”and middle keys 62 will be referred to as “infrared keys”.

The infrared keys 62 are capable of emulating a broad range ofconventional television remote control commands. In effect, these keysfunction as a “smart remote” that is capable of either learning thetelevision's remote control commands or being designed to be compatiblewith a particular television 40. The trackball and trackball keys 64, 66a and 66 b are used to communicate directly with the personal computer,for example to call up online television programming guide software andmanipulate the online television program guide by cursor movement onscreen. The combined keys 58 send both an infrared signal to the TV anda UHF signal to the personal computer.

The system 10 of FIG. 1 may also be operated in connection with anonline television program guide as described in copending applicationSer. No. 08/678,772 entitled “Methods and Systems for ProvidingInformation to a Television Using a Personal Computer”, filed on Jul.11, 1996, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein byreference. The general concept of an online television program guide isalso described in the aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,751,578 and 5,293,357and will not be described in detail herein.

Accordingly, the embodiment of FIG. 1 allows an inexpensive card orcards to be added to a personal computer, to thereby allow the personalcomputer to control audio telephone communications. Expensive add-onboxes need not be provided, which would merely duplicate the computingpower and memory which is already available in the personal computer.

The embodiment of FIG. 1 may require the user to separately tune thetelevision channel using infrared signal 72, and separately control thepersonal computer using UHF or infrared commands 74. Moreover, theembodiment of FIG. 1 may only allow audio telephone communications to becontrolled. In a second embodiment of the invention, described in FIG.2, the personal computer may control tuning and other televisionfunctions using UHF television commands so that the user need notprovide separate commands to the television. Moreover, the televisionmay be used for video telephone communications. The embodiment of FIG. 2may require a separate television interface unit which converts receivedUHF television commands to infrared television commands, and whichcontains a camera and microphone for video telephone communications.

As shown in FIG. 2, system 100 includes a personal computer 12 asalready described. Remote control unit 50′ includes a UHF transmitter54, but does not require a UHF receiver or an infrared transmitter.Activation of the combined keys 58, the conventional television keys 52and the personal computer keys 64, 66 a, 66 b are all communicated tothe personal computer 12 via UHF signals. The television commands fromkeys 58 and 62 are communicated as UHF television commands 74 a, and thepersonal computer commands from keys 58 and keys 64, 66 a and 66 b arecommunicated as PC commands 74 b.

Still referring to FIG. 2, television interface 200 includes atelevision interface housing 202. A UHF transceiver 204 in the housingreceives television remote control signals 70 b and television videosignals 70 a from the personal computer interface 22. The receivedtelevision video signals are supplied to television 40 for display viavideo line 214, video switch 208 and UHF input 220. Video switch 208 mayalso be used to switch between conventional cable 212 a and satellite212 b. UHF receiver 204 also supplies the television commands to aninfrared converter 206 via line 216. Infrared converter 206 converts thereceived television remote control signals into infrared televisionremote control signals 218 for controlling the television in aconventional manner. It will also be understood that TV commands 74 amay be received directly by television interface 200 from remote control50′, rather than using personal computer 12 as an intermediary.

Television interface 200 also includes a camera 230 and a microphone 232for use as an audio/video input in video telephone communications. Invideo telephone communications, video telephone communication signalsare received by external interface card from the internet 18 b, from thetelephone network 18 d or from cable 18 a or satellite 18 c. The videotelephone signals may be processed by personal computer 12, for exampleby filtering or other processing. The video telephone communications arethen transmitted by UHF transceiver 24 to UHF transceiver 204 intelevision interface 200 as video signal 70 a. It will also beunderstood that video signal 70 a also includes audio therein.

The audio and video portions of the video telephone communications aredisplayed on television 40. Similarly, video telephone communicationsare received by camera 230 and microphone 232 and transmitted to UHFtransceiver 24 in personal computer 12 via UHF transceiver 204 intelevision interface 200 as video signal 70 c. The personal computer 12then provides the video telephone communications to external interfacecard 16 for transmission to the external network as already described.Remote control 50′ also controls video telephone communications via PCcommands 74 b.

Accordingly, a relatively simple television interface unit may be addedto allow a television to be a focal point for video telephonecommunications, such as video conferencing, using the power of thepersonal computer. It will be understood that video telephonecommunications also generally include an audio portion, and thataudio-only telephone communications may also be relayed, using thetelevision as the focal point. It will also be understood that thetelevision interface unit may include an infrared transmitter to allowcontrol of a videocassette recorder or other remote device.

Accordingly, the embodiment of FIG. 2 remotely controls the televisionby accepting user input commands to remotely control a television from awireless remote control, and transmits UHF remote control signals fromthe wireless remote control to a personal computer. The UHF remotecontrol signals are received at the personal computer. They may beprocessed by the personal computer. Television remote control signalsand television video signals are then transmitted from the personalcomputer to a television. The received television video signals areapplied to the television for display. The received television remotecontrol signals are converted into infrared television remote controlsignals to control the television. Personal computer commands may alsobe transmitted from the wireless remote control to the personalcomputer. Video telephone communications are also communicated betweenthe personal computer and television interface, under control of theintegrated remote control.

Other design considerations for the present invention will now bedescribed. The UHF remote control units 50 and 50′ preferably transmiton radio frequencies in order to extend the range to other rooms in thehome. Specifically, the personal computer may not be located in the sameroom as the TV 40. It is generally preferable for the remote controlunits 50, 50′ to be located within a line of sight of the TV so that theviewer may view the TV while operating a remote control. Therefore, tocommunicate with the personal computer 12, radio signals are preferred.UHF is preferred because UHF frequencies have been set aside by theFederal Communications Commission for remote control applications.

The PC interface card 22 also preferably includes the necessaryfunctionality to demodulate the signals coming from the remote control,and to convert them into a format which is recognizable by a personalcomputer operating system. The UHF transceiver 24 transmits theinstructions from the personal computer as initiated by the viewer usingthe UHF remote control and transmits them to the infrared converter. TheUHF transceiver 24 also takes the video telephone communications andmodulates them onto a UHF carrier to be transmitted to the UHFtelevision receiver for display on the TV screen.

The television interface unit includes a UHF receiver 204, an infraredconverter 206 and a video switch 208. The UHF receiver detects anddemodulates the control codes transmitted by the PC interface to controlthe TV functions. The infrared converter decodes the control codes andretransmits them as infrared signals compatible with the TV set. Thevideo switch 208 controls the selection of the incoming cable TV,off-air TV or satellite TV and also may control orientation of a remoteantenna for reception.

A software package is preferably loaded onto the personal computer anduses the personal computer's processor and memory. The software mayinclude audio and video telephone communications software. The softwarealso can download remote control codes for television, thus enabling theviewer to control the particular television with the system's UHFhand-held remote control. All known codes may be maintained in adatabase accessible by the viewer. These codes may enable operation ofany television, satellite receivers or VCRs. The software may providemany other types of additional services such as descrambling,interactive video and the like.

Accordingly, the present invention allows the personal computer's fullprocessing power and memory to be used to control telephonecommunications, with the addition of an external interface card and PCinterface card to a personal computer. A special remote control 50 or50′ may also be required and a television interface unit 200 may also berequired. The external interface card 16, PC interface card 22, remotecontrol 50, 50′ and television interface unit 200 do not require much orany computer processing power or memory, and accordingly may be producedinexpensively.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed typicalpreferred embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms areemployed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and notfor purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being set forthin the following claims.

That which is claimed:
 1. A method of providing audio telephonecommunications comprising the step of: using a general purpose personalcomputer to wirelessly relay audio telephone communications between anexternal telephone network and a unified television/general purposepersonal computer wireless remote control.
 2. A method of providingvideo telephone communications comprising the step of: using a generalpurpose personal computer to wirelessly relay video telephonecommunications between an external telephone network and a television.